Santo Niño image found with " blood" on fingers?

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – A week after the historic and successful visit of Pope Francis to the Archdiocese of Palo, an image of the Senyor Santo Niño, placed outside the Balyuan Convention Center in this city, was noticed to have “dried blood” on two fingers of its right hand.

This prompted the Church to have it investigated, first by the parish church where the site belongs, according to Father Amadeo Alvero, social media director of the Palo Archdiocese.

Alvero said it has to be reported first to the nearest parish and then the archbishop can commission a certain group to further investigate the matter. He said that, while he was the former chaplain of the City Hall, fronting the convention center, he was not aware if the place belongs to the Santo Niño Parish or the Sacred Heart Parish.

Father Oliver Mazo, assistant parish priest of the Santo Niño Parish, said he and other priests were instructed last Friday night by parish priest Monsignor Alex Opiniano to go to the site and check on the image of the Santo Niño.

Mazo told The Freeman nobody in the parish knew who reported the incident, and that they have no authority yet to talk further about it. Opiniano was also not available for interview when journalists went to the Santo Niño convent.

This writer, together with a broadcaster from DyVL Aksyon Radyo, discovered the seemingly “dried blood” on the fingers of the Santo Niño image Friday morning, when we dropped by at Balyuan, where the Office of the City General Services is located.

City General Services head Evelyn Cordero, herself a parish worker, also saw the “dried blood” and hurriedly wanted it cleansed, but she failed for unknown reasons. City Hall employee Benjamin Bernido, for his part, said he was not aware of who placed the image of the Santo Niño there.

Tacloban celebrates the fiesta of the Santo Niño every June 30.